When the DMV alerted my daughter that she passed all of the necessary tests to award her a California driver’s license, you would have thought that she won the California lottery. Needless to say, she was ecstatic …. and rightfully so. I actually started teaching her to drive when she was just twelve years old; her feet couldn’t even reach the pedals at the time. She would sit in my lap and I would let her steer. Of course, her mom wasn’t privy to all of these “lessons”; they were our “little secret”, though the grounds keepers at the Great Western Forum, former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, could have easily spilled the beans.

As time wore on my not-so-little girl was catching on and started to get bored with the seemingly endless circles we’d make in the huge parking lot. Well, faster than it seems possible, she and I were shopping for her first car just last week. Guess who fell in love with he first car she test drove? Well, it wasn’t me. My daughter’s decision was the perfect fodder for my thoughts for this posting.

I explained to her that buying a car is not like buying a dress. If you purchase the dress and get home to find that it’s not the color you thought it was, you have the option of returning it. I also managed to mention how you don’t have to insure a dress or maintain it or pay for it monthly through the years. Her focus was pure and simple: to have her first car.

There are some who treat their cars like they should treat people and …. there are some people who treat people like they are cars. Depending on your perspective, either may work for you. What I hope works for all of us is that things (i.e relationships) of value are not appreciated overnight. They are not forced, they are nurtured; they are not haphazardly formulated, they congeal. It’s not about getting to the finish line first, it’s about staying in the race at the speed that is comfortable for you.

So many of us are absorbed in the the turned up pace of the new millennium that we often ignore the gentler days of yesteryear. I think that it’s fine, as a matter of fact, healthy, to get excited about so many things. I also think that the laws of the universe have suggested that comfort and success are found by those who comply with an even keel approach. Before we rush to or into a situation, we should take our time to procure the best results. Simply put, easy really does it.